Previous Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf came out swinging in favor of recalling current mayor Sheng Thao on Friday, which may not be surprising, as Schaaf had always endorsed Thao’s rival Loren Taylor.

In her exclusive interview with the Chronicle this week, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao tried to fend off her November 5 recall election in part by blaming previous mayoral administrations for Oakland’s current problems. Thao said that when she took office in early 2023, Oakland was “the dirtiest that we’ve ever seen it before … with all the illegal dumping.”

And now, one day after that interview, Oakland’s previous mayor is returning the shade, but in more direct terms. In a KQED interview Friday, Libby Schaaf endorsed the recall of Mayor Sheng Thao. Schaaf was appearing on KQED’s Political Breakdown, presumably to promote her run for state Treasurer, though the interview has not yet aired.

“I have come to believe, just based on this last year, that she is not capable of growing into the job,” Schaaf told KQED. “I am voting to recall Mayor Thao because Oakland can’t afford another two years of continued damage to our fiscal solvency and our public safety.”

When co-host Scott Shafer pressed Schaaf on what brought her to this decision, she said, “It was death by a thousand cuts.”

But was it? Schaaf has never been a Sheng Thao supporter, and endorsed Schaaf’s rival Loren Taylor in the 2022 election that Thao won by a whisker. And Loren Taylor has been absolutely chasing the mayor’s office again, and advocating for the recall in no uncertain terms.

Thao supporters were quick to respond to Schaaf going pro-recall. “Since taking office, Mayor Sheng Thao has been cleaning up the mess Schaaf left behind,” Oaklanders Defending Democracy spokesperson William Fitzgerald said in a statement. “For the first time since 2019, Oakland is on track to have fewer than 100 homicides this year. Yet, by endorsing a Yes vote on the upcoming measure, Schaaf is asking Oakland voters to embrace chaos: five mayors in three years. Oakland cannot afford such instability."

And we should note Libby Schaaf was just in the headlines last week for $21,000 ethics fine for campaign violations in the 2018 and 2020 elections. We'll wait to see if that is addressed when the KQED interview airs.

Related: Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao Is Reportedly Using an SUV the City Hasn't Paid For [SFist]

Images: (Left) LibbySchaaf.com, (Right) Office of Mayor Sheng Thao